Customer Reviews

The Enduring Wilderness: Protecting Our Natural Heritage through the Wilderness Act (Speaker's Corner)

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In this book, Doug Scott provides us with an in-depth, refreshing and much needed look at the American Wilderness. We are all familiar with the wilderness of lore, whether it the pristine forests of Thoreau or the hostile wastes of the biblical prophet John. While these are powerful images they can't really compare to the diverse and very tangible wildernesses which are outlined in this book. Mr. Scott does a wonderful job both in detailing the ideas of the American Wilderness and the history and policy which brought this idea into reality.
I was fortunate enough to have used this book as a text for a college course. It is by far the most interesting college text book I have!
Mr. Scott presents a compelling look at the American Wilderness while at the same time giving us a hopeful outlook for its future. If you plan to have an opinion, you'd better read this first!

This book combines a brief history of American wilderness policy and politics with an impassioned plea for more wildernesses. Scott is the policy director for the Campaign for America's Wilderness, and a past recipient of the John Muir Award, so we are in no doubt where his sympathies lie.

Scott has written an admirable little book. It is short (154 pages of text, with wide margins and lots of sidebar quotes taking up space), so you shouldn't expect an in-depth history of wilderness policy. However, he packs a lot of information in that space. He provides a brief overview of attitudes toward wilderness from Teddy Roosevelt through Aldo Leopold and others in the 1920s and 1930s. After this, his story takes us through the Wilderness Act of 1964 and then into current debates over wilderness.

The centerpiece of his story is the question of statutory protection. Establishing a wilderness in the US requires an act of Congress and can be undone only by a similar act of Congress. This differs from other imaginable procedures, such as presidential decree or management agency discretion. Scott shows us why wilderness advocates came to believe that statutory protection was better than agency discretion, even if the agency was broadly sympathetic. He also argues that wilderness advocates were initially wrong in hoping for agency-based decisions subject only to congressional veto. Taking sole initiative away from agencies provided an incentive for grassroots citizen movements, which he believes has served the cause of wilderness well.

As you can see from my preceding paragraph, Scott gives us enough information so that we can disagree with him - - an admirable trait in any piece of advocacy. A mountain biker could read this book to understand why Scott's vision of wilderness excludes bicycles, and could also find common ground with Scott on preserving natural areas. This mountain biker would also gain insight into political strategies for protecting bike trails effectively.

Wilderness areas can be found in land managed by the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Though he doesn't make a big deal out of the differences across agencies - - after all, he has to work with these people - - it's clear that some agencies are easier to work with than others. He makes a friendly plea for the NPS to rethink how it approaches wilderness, for example.

Seeing the past century of wilderness policy also raises questions about our current dilemmas. Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, was our greatest conservationist president. Important legislation passed under Nixon and Ford. The younger Bush, in contrast, is extraordinarily hostile to wilderness. Bush has the support of most of the western states in which wilderness lies, though individual counties voted for Kerry (Teton County, Wyoming; Glacier County, Montana; and most of the ski areas in Colorado). Wilderness advocates need to make coalitions that include these voters, and current strategies don't seem to be working. Scott's next book might address some of these challenges.

I bought this book for a college class on wilderness and it provides a great overview of wilderness protection in the 20th century. It is amazing how so many years of history have been succinctly put into such a short book along with many insightful quotes. It is a great book for anyone interested in learning about protecting the wilderness.

An essential historical narrative of our National Wilderness Preservation System. Scott uses the very words of those individuals who played key roles in the passage of the 1964 Act and his own experience and expertise in the field to tell the compelling tale of a truly American ideal: Wilderness. I couldn't put it down!

This is an essential primer for all those wishing to learn more about the legislative and legalistic aspects of conservation activism. Doug Scott analyzes the history and politics behind statutory wilderness protection at the federal level, which culminated in the momentous Wilderness Act of 1964. I am proud to be from the same state (Pennsylvania) as two of the leading lights behind that legislation – Howard Zahniser and Rep. John P. Saylor. Believe it or not, Saylor was a Republican congressman, indicating that conservation has not always been the stark divisive issue that it is today. In the first half of this book, Scott gives a history of wilderness activism in the United States, from colonial times through the great influential figures of John Muir and Aldo Leopold, and how scattershot protection of valuable areas led to the need for the structured Act of Congress in 1964.

The second half of the book, starting with Chapter 5, gets more interesting as Scott turns to the modern politics of conservation that have been embodied by citizen requests for protection of their valued wild areas. We learn that every president has approved additions to America's protected wilderness, even GWB, and that this has always been accomplished through bipartisan compromise. As proven in poll after poll, the majority of Americans, from all walks of life and political stances, favor the protection of wilderness. This knowledge is a valuable side effect of this book, in that Scott shows us that the American government has always had a strong sense of compromise and pragmatism, which has proven to be more effective than the divisiveness and narrow ideological posturing that you might think have swamped government processes, thanks to loudmouthed pundits and sound bite media coverage. I have met Doug Scott at a speaking engagement, and I feel that anyone who loves wilderness as an American tradition should become familiar with his works. [~doomsdayer520~]

I enjoyed the historical perspective that is documented in the book. Mr. Scott gives a good narrative of the historical time line for The Wilderness Act of 1964. His supportive quotes from many people who were involved in the long process of writing and passing the bill are both interesting and timely. I feel the book is very timely as well as historical to today's wilderness protection process.

U.S. Representative John P. Saylor, a conservative Republican from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, introduced the Wilderness Act in Congress in 1956 with the statement: "We Americans are the people we are largely because we have had the influence of the wilderness on our lives." The Wilderness Act, which established America's National Wilderness Preservation System, was finally signed into law some eight years later by President Lyndon Johnson, in September of 1964. President Reagan holds the record for most wilderness bills (43) signed into law under the Wilderness Act. President Carter protected the most acres (66 million) during his administration.

Doug Scott's "The Enduring Wilderness" is refreshing because not only is it a meticulously detailed account of how the National Wilderness Preservation System came into being and how wilderness areas are added to the System, but it also demonstrates that it is members of Congress and the American public from all across the political spectrum that deserve credit for growing the System to its current size of 107 million acres. Scott makes the case well that wilderness protection truly is an all-Amercian value. "The Enduring Wilderness" is a must read for those who value our wilderness whether you're a Democrat, Republican or Independent.

It has been 40 years since Congress passed the Wilderness Act. This has been considered a success by nearly all sides of the political spectrum. This book, written by the director for the Campaign for America's Wilderness is an appeal to extend and expand the wilderness areas in the country. He points out the success that the Wilderness Act has been and illustrates many of his points by stories that will convince nearly anyone.

This is a small book, but one that clearly shows how important the continuation of the Governments actions has been to all of us.

"The Enduring Wilderness" is a highly effective handbook for everyone who wants to help save America's remnants of wilderness. Nothing could be more valuable in these times when government agencies are moving to commit these wild places to oil drilling, unnecessary roads, and clearcut logging. Doug Scott tells the fascinating story of how the Wilderness Act came to be passed by Congress 40 years ago, and how citizens in all parts of the U.S. have used that law to protect the unspoiled lands they love. The history of wilderness preservation is still being written by people who care. This book gives them the tools they need.

While reading Doug Scott's book, I realized that wilderness is not a thing or a place, but a process that people can use to help protect and conserve the places that are important to us. Wilderness is not a Republican or Democrat issue, but an American one; we are united by our common ground, literally. I also learned how powerful a small group of people can be when they're committed, united and persistent in pursuing protection for their favorite places. Thank you, Doug!